Mourning for Heye Rumohr

Heye Rumohr was born in Hamburg in 1947. He initially studied biology in Göttingen and moved to Kiel in the summer semester 1969. After receiving his diploma in fisheries biology with Professor Hempel, he started in July 1974 to work for the SFB95 "Sea - Seabed Interaction". His work included re-colonization trials with benthic substrates. From 1975-1979 he served on the “Boknis Eck Time Series Station” which provided the foundation for his doctoral thesis, submitted in 1979 under the title "The 'Benthosgarten' in the Bay of Kiel - Experiments on Bottom Animal Ecology". In addition to research, Heye Rumohr was active for decades in the training of students and young researchers. He also worked in many international committees, in particular in the framework of the ICES program.

During his nearly 40-year career at the Institute for Marine Research / GEOMAR, Heye Rumohr especially enjoyed the research on biodiversity and the field work at sea. Among the personal highlights of his life as a researcher were visits to Kenya, Chile, Korea and Ecuador (Galapagos Islands), as he recounted on the occasion of his retirement in 2012.

Even after his retirement, he was still active and was a regular at the institute. His leisure activities included cooking and music, specifically in the company of others.

"With his scientific enthusiasm, Heye Rumohr has strongly motivated many generations of students for the field of Marine Ecology", says Prof. Dr. Martin Wahl, head of the research unit of Benthic Ecology at GEOMAR. "Particularly noteworthy, in addition to his national and international work on behalf of Baltic Sea research and the field of benthic ecology, were his great qualities as a human being. We will miss his insightful, lively and very humorous personality. Our heartfelt condolences go out to his family."